Salesforce signs agreement to acquire Demandware

Salesforce will extend its CRM platform by acquiring Demandware the cloud provider for $2.8 billion

Salesforce, the CRM company, and Demandware, the provider of enterprise cloud commerce solutions, today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Salesforce will acquire Demandware in a transaction worth approximately $2.8 billion (net). Under the terms of the agreement, Salesforce will commence a tender offer for all outstanding shares of Demandware for $75 per share, in cash. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of Salesforce’s fiscal year 2017, ending July 31, 2016.

Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO, Salesforce said:

Demandware is an amazing company—the global cloud leader in the multi-billion dollar digital commerce market. With Demandware, Salesforce will be well positioned to deliver the future of commerce as part of our Customer Success Platform and create yet another billion dollar cloud.

Tom Ebling, CEO of Demandware noted:

Demandware and Salesforce share the same passionate focus on customer success. Becoming part of Salesforce will accelerate our vision to empower the world’s leading brands with the most innovative digital commerce solutions that enable them to connect 1:1 with customers across any channel.

According to Gartner, worldwide spending on digital commerce platforms is expected to grow at over 14 percent annually, reaching $8.544 billion by 2020. Salesforce’s acquisition of Demandware seeks to extend the company’s CRM leadership and position it to capture this multi-billion dollar digital commerce market with what will be the new Salesforce Commerce Cloud.

Salesforce says that their customers will now have access to a leading enterprise cloud commerce platform, and Demandware’s customers will be able to leverage Salesforce’s sales, service, marketing, communities, analytics, IoT and platform solutions to deliver a better consumer experience.

You can read more about the announcement as well as an FAQ on the Salesforce Blog.